Page Lof 6 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION/ Chapter-1/ History THE FRENCH REVOLUTION > On the morning of 14" July 1789, the city of Paris was ina state of alarm. The King had commanded the troops to move into the city. Rumours spread that the King would soon order the army to open fire upon the citizens. Some 7,000 men and women gathered in front of the town hall and decided to form a peoples’ militia, They broke into a number of government buildings in search of arms. > Finally, a group of several hundred people marched towards the eastern part of the city and stormed the fortress- prison, the Bastille, where they hoped to find hoarded ammunition. In the armed fight that followed, the commander of the Bastille was killed and the prisoners were released. > The days that followed saw more rioting both in Paris and the countryside. Most people were protesting againstthe high price of bread. Actually, it was the beginning of a chain of events that ultimately led to the execution ofthe king in France, though most people at that time did not anticipate this outcome. > In 1774, Louis XVI of the Bourbon family of Kings ascended the throne of France. > Causes for an empty treasury of France under Louis XVI: (Long years of war had drained the financial resources of France. ()_ High cost of maintaining an extravagant court at the immense Palace of Versailles. (ui) Under Louis XVI, France helped the thirteen American colonies to gain their independence from thecommon enemy, Britain. (w) The war added more than a billion Livres to a debt that had already risen to more than 2 billion Livres. ( Lenders, who gave the state credit, now began to charge 10 per cent interest on loans. > The French Society in the eighteenth century was divided into three Estates, and only members of the ThirdEstate paid taxes. () The members of the First Estate, that is the clergy, enjoyed certain privileges by birth. The most important of these was exemption from paying taxes to the State. (i) The members of the Second Estate were the nobility. They enjoyed feudal privileges by birth. These included feudal dues, which they extracted from the peasants. They were also exempted from paying taxes. (i) The Third Estate comprised of peasants, artisans, landless labour, servants, lawyers, doctors, administrative officials, traders, etc., they had to pay all taxes to the State. > Peasants made up about 90 per cent of the population, However, only a small number of them owned the landthey cultivated. > Peasants were obliged to render services to the lord, work in his house and fields, serve in the army or to participate in building roads.Page 2of 6 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION/ Chapter-1/ History > The Church too extracted its share of taxes called ‘tithes’ from the peasants. > All members of the Third Estate had to pay taxes to the state including a direct tax, called ‘taille’ and a number of indirect taxes which were levied on articles of everyday consumption like salt or tobacco. The Struggle to Survive > Increasing population of France led to a rapid increase in the demand for food grains. But the production of grains could not keep pace with the demand. So, the price of bread rose rapidly. > Wages of the workers did not keep pace with the rise in prices. So, the gap between the poor and the rich widened. > Things became worse whenever drought or hail reduced the harvest. This led to a subsistence crisis, something that occurred frequently in France during the Old Regime. A Growing Middle Class Envisages an End to Privileges > The eighteenth century witnessed the emergence of social groups, termed the middle class. They earned their wealth through an expanding overseas trade and from the manufacture of goods such as woollen and silk textiles that were either exported or bought by the richer members of society. > Members of the middle class were educated and believed that no group in the society should be privileged by birth. Rather, a person’s social position must depend on his merit. > These ideas envisaging a society based on freedom and equal laws and opportunities for all, were put forward by philosophers such as John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau. > In his Two Treatises of Government, Locke sought to refute the doctrine of the divine and absolute right of the monarch. Rousseau carried the idea forward, proposing a form of government based on a social contract between people and their representatives. > In The Spirit of the Laws, Montesquieu proposed a division of power within the government between the legislative, the executive and the judiciary. > Louis XVI planned to impose further taxes to be able to meet the expenses of the state. > In France of the Old Regime, the monarch did not have the power to Impose taxes according to his will alone. Rather he had to call a meeting of the Estates General to pass the proposals for new taxes. > On 5™ May 1789, Louis XVI called together an assembly of the Estates General to pass proposals for new taxes. Peasants, artisans and women were denied entry to the assembly and from participating in the meeting. > Voting in the Estates General in the past had been conducted according to the principle that each estate had one vote. But this time, members of the third estate demanded that voting now be conducted by the assembly as aPage 3of6 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION/ Chapter-1/ History whole, where each member would have one vote. When the King rejected this proposal, members of the third estate walked out of the assembly in protest. > On 20" June 1789, the representatives of the third estate assembled in the hall of an indoor tennis court in the grounds of Versailles under the leadership of Mirabeau and Abbé Sieyés. They declared themselves a National Assembly and swore not to disperse till they had drafted a constitution for France that would limit the powers ofthe monarch > Because of bad harvest, increase in demand for food grains and high price of bread, people of France were becoming angry day by day. At the same time, the King ordered the troops to move into Paris. Finally, on 14" July, the agitated crowd stormed and destroyed the Bastille. > On the night of 4" August, 1789, the Assembly passed a decree abolishing the feudal system of obligations and taxes, Members of the clergy too were forced to give up their privileges. Tithes were abolished and lands owned by the Church were confiscated. As a result, the government acquired assets worth at least 2 billion Livres. France Becomes a Constitutional Monarchy > The National Assembly completed the draft of the constitution in 1791. Its main objective was to limit the powers of the monarch. > These powers were now separated and assigned to different institutions — The Legislature, Executive and Judiciary. This made France a constitutional monarchy. > Not all citizens, however, had the right to vote. Only men above 25 years of age who paid taxes equal to at least 3 days of a labourer's wage were given the status of active citizens and were entitled to vote. The remaining men and all the women were classed as Passive Citizens. > The constitution began with a Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen. Rights such as the Right to Life, Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Opinion, Equality before the Law, were established as ‘Natural and inalienable Rights’. These rights belonged to each human being by birth and could not be taken away. France Abolishes Monarchy and Becomes a Republic Although Louis XVI had signed the constitution, he entered into secret negotiations with the > King of Prussia. > The National Assembly voted in April 1792 to declare war against Prussia and Austria. Thousands of volunteers thronged from the provinces to join the army. > Political clubs became an important rallying point for people who wished toPage of 6 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION/ Chapter-1/ History The discuss government policies and plan their own forms of action. The most successful of these clubs was that of the, Jacobins, which got its name from the former convent of St. Jacob in Paris. The members of the Jacobin club belonged mainly to the less prosperous sections of society. They included small shopkeepers, artisans such as shoemakers, pastry cooks, watch-makers, printers, as well as servants and daily- wage workers. Their leader was Maximilian Robespierre. These Jacobins came to be known as the Sans-culottes, literally meaning, those without knee breeches. Sans- culottes men wore long striped trousers similar to those worn by dock workers, in addition to the red cap that symbolized liberty. Women, however, were not allowed to do so. On the morning of August 10”, 1792, they stormed the Palace of the Tuileries, massacred the King’s guards and held the King himself as a hostage for several hours. Later, the assembly voted to imprison the Royal Family. Elections were held. From then onwards, all men of 21 years and above, regardless of wealth got the right to vote. The newly elected assembly was called the Convention. On 21* September, 1792, it abolished the monarchy and declared France a Republic. A Republic is a form of government where the people elect the government including the Head of the Government. There is no hereditary monarchy. Louis XVI was sentenced to death by a Court on the charge of treason. On 21° January, 1793, he was executed publicly at the Place de la Concorde. Reign of Terror Robespierre’ rule in France (1793 to 1794) is known as the ‘Reign of Terror’ Robespierre followed a policy of severe control and punishment. All those whom he saw as being enemies of the Republic for e.g. the Ex-nobles and clergy, members of other political parties, and even members of his own party who did not agree with his methods, were arrested, imprisoned and then tried by a revolutionary tribunal. Robespierre’ government issued laws placing a maximum ceiling on wages and prices. > Meat and bread were rationed. > Peasants were forced to transport their grain to the cities and sell it at prices fixed by the government. The use of more expensive white flour was forbidden; all citizens were required to eat the pain d'egalite (equality bread) a loaf made of whole wheat. Equality was also sought to be practiced through forms of speech and address. Churches were shut down and their buildings were converted into barracks or offices.age Sof 6 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION/ Chote History > Finally, he was convicted by a court in July 1794, he was arrested, and on the next day, sent to the guillotine. A Directory Rules France > The fall of the Jacobin Government allowed the wealthier middle classes to seize power. > A new Constitution was introduced which denied the vote to non- propertied ns of society. Sec > The political instability of the Directory paved the way for the rise of a military dictator, Napoleon Bonaparte Did woman have a Revolution? > From the very beginning, women were active participants in the events which brought about so many important changes in the French Society. > Condition of women during the French Revolution: ¢ The women hoped that their involvement would pressurize the revolutionary government to introduce measures to improve their es. © Most women of the Third Estate had to work for a living. They worked as seamstresses or laundresses and sold flowers, fruits and vegetables in the market. They were employed as domestic servants in the houses of prosperous people. ‘© Most women did not have access to education or job training. Only daughters of nobles or wealthier members of the Third Estate could study at a convent. © Working women had also to care for their families, i.e. cook, fetch water, queue up for bread and look afterthe children. ©. Their wages were lower than those of men. > In order to discuss and voice their interests, women started their own political clubs and newspapers. The Society of Revolutionary and the Republican Women was the most famous club. > Women of France demanded the Right to vote, to be elected to the assembly and to hold political offices. > Laws introduced by the revolutionary government to improve the lives of women in France: ‘© Together with the creation of state schools, schooling was made compulsory for all the girls. Their fathers could no longer force them into marriage against their will. Marriage was made into a contract entered into freely and registered under civil law. © Divorce was made legal and could be applied for by both women and men. Women could now be trained for jobs, become artists, or run small businesses. > Women’s struggle for equal political rights, however, continued. It was finally in 1946 that women in France won the right to vote,Page Gof 6 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION/ Chapter-i/ History The Abolition of Slavery > One of the most revolutionary social reforms of the Jacobin regime was the abolition of slavery in the French Colonies. > A triangular slave trade began in the seventeenth century between Europe, Africa and America. > The exploitation of slave labourers made it possible to meet the growing demand in European markets for sugar, coffee and indigo. Port cities like Bordeaux and Nantes owed their economic prosperity to the flourishing slave trade. > Slavery was finally abolished in French colonies in 1848. The Revolution and Everyday Life > The years following 1789 in France saw many changes in the daily lives of men, women and children. > The revolutionary governments took it upon themselves to pass laws that would translate the ideals of Libertyand Equality into everyday practice. > One important law that came into effect soon after the storming of the Bastille in the summer of 1789 was the abolition of censorship. > Effects of abolition of censorship: © Now, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen proclaimed Freedom of Speech and Expression to be anatural right. Newspapers, pamphlets, books and printed pictures flooded the towns of France from where they travelled rapidly into the countryside. * They all described and discussed the events and changes taking place in France. «Freedom of the Press also meant that opposing views of events could be expressed. Plays, songs and festive processions attracted large numbers of people. > In 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte crowned himself as the Emperor of France. > Napoleon saw his role as a modernizer of Europe. He introduced many laws, such as > The protection of private property and > Auniform system of weights and measures provided by the decimal system. > Napoleon was finally defeated at Waterloo in 1815. > The ideas of liberty and democratic rights were the most important legacy of the French Revolution. These ideas spread from France to the rest of Europe during the nineteenth century, where feudal systems were abolished. > Tipu Sultan and Raja Ram Mohan Roy are the two examples of individuals who responded to the ideas coming from revolutionary.